By James Rincon

Pflag Reporter

The Pflugerville Community Development Corporation will ring in the new year by helping bring around 150 new jobs to the city.

Memory module manufacturer Avant Technology finalized agreements with PCDC on Nov. 18 to relocate from its Austin location on Burnet Road to a 50,400 square foot cite inside the Verde Springbrook Corporate Center.

The new location will double the expanding company’s manufacturing space while improving its distribution and lowing its taxes, said Avant Technology General Manager Todd Hector.

“We’re growing, when in this economy other businesses are dropping. Avant has picked up quite a percentage of the market share,” Hector said. “A lot of our manufacturing workers live in the Pflugerville area, so with gas prices and things like that going up it’s an easier commute for them. Plus with the access to [Highway] 45 and [Interstate] 35 the mobility for our freight carriers and ease of people coming in makes it a lot simpler for us versus where we were in the northwest part of Austin.”

Job creation is among several reasons why facilitating Avant’s relocation was attractive for the city, said PCDC Executive Director Charles Simon.

“It’s great in terms of the number of people it’s bringing to town starting at around 150 jobs, that’s significant,” Simon said. “Right now what you’re seeing is two different extremes. You see some companies that are having a real hard time because of the way the economy is, and yet others are taking advantage of the opportunities that the economy is bringing to them.

A similar dichotomy exists when comparing cities that have facilitated growth and cities that have become depended during economic hard times, said Simon.

One step Pflugerville takes to ensure it remains grouped with the former of those cities is offer triple Freeport exemption to companies that assemble, store, manufacture or fabricate locally and then export product out of Texas within 175 days of acquiring it. Triple Freeport exemption is a tax exemption approved by Travis County, the City of Pflugerville, and the Pflugerville Independent School District.

Avant Technology reports more than $200 million in annual revenue with primary markets are in North, Central and South America, and in Europe, primarily in Ireland, Scotland and Hungary.

Hector said another factor that contributes to Avant’s success is the company’s executive philosophy on keeping its workforce in the U.S.

“There are a lot of companies that are outsourcing now overseas . . . so by the time they get the order in China; they put it into production; they build it and ship it back – the customer is looking at a minimum of about a week turnaround,” Hector said. “What we’re able to do is take the order that day, and turn it within a 24- 48 hour period, so they’re getting the product in a couple days versus a week. That’s ultra critical, especially in the telecummunication industries – we sell a lot of memory into that – timing is everything.”

Avant’s agreement with the PCDC stipulates Avant will maintain a presence in Pflugerville for a minimum of five years and employ at least 130 people during the first year of operation. It also states PCDC will pay up to $568,500 in incentives, including $425,458 to Verde Corporate Realty Service toward the finish out required for Avant’s manufacturing space and $143,042 to Avant for manufacturing equipment.

Hector said Avant plans to establish some permanent roots in its new location.

“I grew up in Pflugerville, so it’s kind of like moving home,” said Hector, whose mother taught at Pflugerville middle school until she retired in 2003. “We intend on being there as long as we’re in business. The plan is to stick here because we’ve moved in Austin a few different times. We moved our corporate headquarters down to Austin from Dallas a few years ago. We want to settle in and stick here, so we signed the max lease agreement which is seven years.”

Pflugerville industry earns accolades

Pflugerville received more good business news earlier this month when PCDC was named in Expansion Solutions Magazine’s list of top five cities for the Warehouse/Distribution category.

This is the third year the publication issued its annual Awards of Excellence for economic development.

The awards “recognize organizations, such as economic development corporations, that have shown exceptional progress and potential in economic development by successfully recruiting, retaining and assisting growing businesses,” according to a PCDC press release.

Expansion Solutions awards the country’s top five organizations in automotive, biotechnology, high technology, logistics, ports, warehouse/distribution and Web site design.

Organizations from Grand Island, Neb., Hagerstown, Md., High Point, N.C., and Sioux Falls, S.D. were included along with PCDC in the list of top five cities for the Warehouse/Distribution category, according to the release.